Building Exposed

Our crew of six found a third corner of the stone foundation (partially illustrated in the photograph), thereby allowing us to determine the size of the building's footprint. It is 17 ft wide and 31 ft long, and oriented nearly east-west (about ten degrees north of west, or azimuth 280). The wall is about 2 ft thick.

But wait...there's more! At the west end of the building we found a 5 ft wide brick chimney that appears to extend the full width of the building.

My initial impression is that we have a classic Colonial period floor plan consisting of two rooms, side by side, with a chimney on one of the gable ends. It is referred to as a hall and parlor plan, the hall being the kitchen and general congregation room with the fireplace, the parlor being the sleeping room and formal room of the principal occupants. Other members of the household would have slept in the hall or in rooms above. We should have an initial drawing ready by the end of this coming week.

The artifacts recovered today are consistent with those recovered last week, although we seem to be finding more creamware and we collected a large shoe buckle.

I anticipate working at the Swann House site tomorrow (Monday) and Thursday...Tuesday looks like a rain day and we have other projects to work on. Friday Scott and I hope to finish the restoration of St. Nicholas Cemetery and I haven't made any plans for next weekend...Saturday is a possible field day at Port Tobacco.

Jim